At least four Palestinians have been killed in two Israeli missile strikes in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials say. Two family members died in one strike on a house in Rafah, hospital officials said. A second strike killed two men, said to be Islamic Jihad militants. About a dozen Palestinians have died in the past three days of Israeli action. Israel has carried out many operations in Gaza since the capture of one of its soldiers by militants in June. The BBC's Lucy Williamson, in Gaza City, says the two who died in the strike on the house in Rafah were teenagers - a brother and his younger sister. Their mother was also seriously injured. Doctors have spoken about many people turning up at the local hospital since the early hours of this morning with serious shrapnel wounds, our correspondent adds. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk

A bridge collapsed amid heavy rains in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least 23 people, an official said. About 200 people were standing on the bridge in Mardan, a small city about 30 miles west of Peshawar, when it suddenly collapsed, said Himayatullah Mayar, the district mayor. ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2277014

The Sept. 11 commission was so frustrated with repeated misstatements by the Pentagon and FAA about their response to the 2001 terror attacks that it considered an investigation into possible deception, the panel’s chairmen say in a new book. Republican Thomas Kean and Democrat Lee Hamilton also say in “Without Precedent” that their panel was too soft in questioning former N Y Mayor Rudy Giuliani and that the 20-month investigation may have suffered for it. The book, a behind-the-scenes look at the investigation, recounts obstacles the authors say were thrown up by the Bush administration, internal disputes over Bush’s use of the attacks as a reason for invading Iraq, and the way the final report avoided questioning whether U.S. policy in the Middle East may have contributed to the attacks. This would really be “News” if this investigation had really done an honest investigation, but it was set up to be, "a cover the Governments Ass" Side Show. And some people swallowed it....http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14191255/

Elvena Smart was asleep when her sister jolted her awake with the news that the old elementary school was on fire. Soon, village police were knocking on the door, telling them it was too dangerous to stay, she said.Smart and her family were among the 250 people in the remote Alaska village of Hooper Bay who fled a massive fire that flattened a 15-acre swath of the Yupik Eskimo community Thursday.The blaze burned 35 structures and came within 300 feet of bulk fuel tanks before it was extinguished by residents and firefighters who flew in from around the state. No one was injured.Smart's home was spared, but 12 others are gone. So is the elementary school, a nearby high school, a teacher housing complex, a store, some village offices and numerous storage shelters....http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/08/05/eskimo.fire.ap/index.html?section=cnn_us

A substitute elementary school teacher was charged Friday with lewd and lascivious acts involving a 10-year-old girl, and police said he claimed to have molested more than 100 students.Eric Norman Olsen, 28, of Ontario, told detectives that he molested between 100 and 200 elementary school students since becoming a teacher three years ago, said police Detective Diane Galindo. He was scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 8.Police said his resume shows that he has taught in different school districts throughout San Bernardino, Riverside and Kern counties. A phone number for Olsen’s residence could not be located. It wasn’t immediately clear whether he had an attorney.The probe began on June 13 after a male student allegedly witnessed Olsen molest the 10-year-old girl and told school officials, Galindo said. Olsen did not have a criminal background....http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14194301/

Lurid headlines and images in the Iranian press from the war in Lebanon are drawing huge crowds to newspaper kiosks dotting the wide boulevards of Tehran. Despite tensions between Iran and the Arab world that date back to the 7th century, when Arab armies occupied Persian Iran, the war has provoked widespread sympathies for fellow Shi'ite Muslims in southern Lebanon. "I feel a lot of sympathy for the poor Lebanese," said Samira Vaziri, a 27-year old graphic designer. "But I don't think that we should get involved in this war." The Iranian press' tone is overwhelmingly anti-Israeli and anti-Western, with inaction by Arab governments also getting criticism. The United States says Iran is the main military and financial backer of Hezbollah. "5 Merkava tanks destroyed as Hezbollah deals Israel defeat across 4 axes" was ...http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20060804-110110-2271r.htm